modulado

Modulado is a Portuguese adjective and past participle formed from the verb modular. It describes something that has undergone modulation, a process in which a property of a carrier signal or another quantity is varied according to a modulating signal. The term is widely used in technical, scientific, and musical contexts to denote the result of modulation.

In electronics and telecommunications, a signal is considered modulado when its amplitude, frequency, or phase has been altered to encode information. The main forms of modulation are amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM) and phase modulation (PM). The device that performs modulation is called a modulador, while the reverse process is called demodulação (demodulation). Modulated signals are used to adapt information to transmission channels, manage bandwidth, and improve robustness against noise.

In digital communications, modulation schemes such as ASK, PSK and QAM generate modulado waveforms that encode data onto a carrier and enable efficient, reliable transmission over various media. In analog contexts, modulation can also refer to changing a parameter like amplitude or frequency over time to carry the content of a signal.

In music, modulação (modulation) describes the change of tonal center or key within a piece. A section that has shifted to a different key may be described as modulado, depending on usage, reflecting the concept of modulation applied to tonal relationships.

Etymology stems from modular, itself related to the idea of measuring or forming a mode or manner. The term appears across engineering, acoustics, and music to indicate that an originally unmodulated quantity has been transformed by modulation.